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emtees's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Brilliant Death is an Italian-inspired fantasy that follows Teodora DiSangro, daughter of a mafia-like family, as she battles political intrigue, unique and creative magic and cultural sexism in her quest to save her family. When her father is poisoned by the Capo, the would-be leader of the united realm of Vinalia, Teo sets out with her brother Luca to find an antidote to the poison and the deal with the political consequences. But while the patriarchal culture of Vinalia means that quiet, studious Luca is automatically seen as the appropriate representative of their family’s interests simply because he is a boy, it is Teo who has studied at their father’s side to understand the politics of the realm and the actions the DiSangros must take to maintain power, and it is Teo who has used her secret magical abilities to protect their family’s interests. So rather than accompany Luca on his journey, Teo is determined to find a way to transform herself into a boy and take her brother’s place. Enter Cielo, a genderfluid strega whose power means he is sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl, sometimes a bird or other creature. Cielo can teach Teo how to take on a male form herself, but in the process of developing a relationship with the other strega, Teo also begins to question the world in which she was raised and the priorities it taught her.
“This face belonged to me. Other people believed it was me, but it could change by tomorrow.
I had already been a screaming baby, torn from her mother too early. An uncertain little girl, watching Father from the shadows. A di Sangro daughter who did not always feel like a daughter but would never be a son. A young woman hiding a knife in her sleeve and magic in her heart.
I was all those things, and I would be more.”
The best part of this book is its handling of gender and gender identity. I am always a little cautious when it comes to explorations of gender identity in a traditional fantasy world, because many authors struggle with handling a modern concept of gender in a world where sex restricts characters to a much greater degree than it does in ours. But Capetta makes a few really smart decision that make their handling of the topic shine. For one, there is more than one character dealing with gender identity issues. Cielo, a strega whose power grants them the ability to change their own body, can look like a boy or a girl for reasons of convenience, but it goes much deeper than that - whether by their own nature or because of their power, Cielo feels like both a boy and a girl. A genderfluid identity is inherent to who they are. As they say, they think to restrict themselves to one thing would be intolerable. Teo, on the other hand, has a different attitude, which brings me to the other smart thing Capetta is doing - they are engaging directly with the trope of the girl who disguises herself as a boy to have adventures or escape sexist restrictions on their freedom, a trope with a very long history in fantasy that is rooted in a rejection of patriarchy but also has resonance for trans and nonbinary readers. Teo is a character who would probably describe herself as “a girl, but not just a girl.” Some of her discomfort with her female gender identity is rooted in cultural reasons - she wants her father’s respect, she wants to be able to take her place as a member of her family with more to offer than just marrying and having children. But in other places it is clear that her identity, too, goes deeper than convenience - early on, she mentions how much she loves her masculine nickname (Teo is a boy’s name), and while she never embraces her ability to change her body physically into that of a boy the way Cielo does - it is clear that her female body always remains the one that feels most her - she nonetheless does come to see that form as also hers, and to love the way it allows her to transcend the limits of female identity. These differences of experience between Cielo and Teo, as well as the acknowledgement that Teo is both living in a sexist society and desires a more fluid identity for reasons that go beyond sexism, made Capetta’s handling of a “magical transgender” story feel more believable than most.
There were other things I liked about the book. The magic system was interesting, though we clearly don’t know everything about it yet. The world, though clearly very heavily based on historical Italy, is rich and interesting. I liked most of the characters and thought they were fleshed out well. Teo is an excellent protagonist. I love how ruthless she was; for all that she was a somewhat sheltered country girl, while Cielo was the independent traveler, it was Teo who felt like the harder character and Cielo who seemed softer and more vulnerable. The way they each developed, and the influence they had on each other, really got me invested in their relationship. Sometimes when you have a POV protagonist who is going to go through a radical change in their worldview over the course of the story, the love interest can get annoying because it seems like they are just there to facilitate that change. But Cielo changed just as much due to their journey and their relationship with Teo and I liked that.
Unfortunately there were a few things that pulled down the book for me. While the prose was mostly serviceable, it got muddled and confusing at times. In particular, Capetta seemed to struggle with the most emotionally intense sceneslike Luca’s death or the big confrontation between the Capo and Cielo ; I think at times they were going for a shocked/numb reaction from Teo but it often felt like the emotion of these scenes was just missing completely. And a lot of the backstory and magical worldbuilding seemed like it was explained in the most confusing way possible. I hope some of that will be improved on in the sequel.
“This face belonged to me. Other people believed it was me, but it could change by tomorrow.
I had already been a screaming baby, torn from her mother too early. An uncertain little girl, watching Father from the shadows. A di Sangro daughter who did not always feel like a daughter but would never be a son. A young woman hiding a knife in her sleeve and magic in her heart.
I was all those things, and I would be more.”
The best part of this book is its handling of gender and gender identity. I am always a little cautious when it comes to explorations of gender identity in a traditional fantasy world, because many authors struggle with handling a modern concept of gender in a world where sex restricts characters to a much greater degree than it does in ours. But Capetta makes a few really smart decision that make their handling of the topic shine. For one, there is more than one character dealing with gender identity issues. Cielo, a strega whose power grants them the ability to change their own body, can look like a boy or a girl for reasons of convenience, but it goes much deeper than that - whether by their own nature or because of their power, Cielo feels like both a boy and a girl. A genderfluid identity is inherent to who they are. As they say, they think to restrict themselves to one thing would be intolerable. Teo, on the other hand, has a different attitude, which brings me to the other smart thing Capetta is doing - they are engaging directly with the trope of the girl who disguises herself as a boy to have adventures or escape sexist restrictions on their freedom, a trope with a very long history in fantasy that is rooted in a rejection of patriarchy but also has resonance for trans and nonbinary readers. Teo is a character who would probably describe herself as “a girl, but not just a girl.” Some of her discomfort with her female gender identity is rooted in cultural reasons - she wants her father’s respect, she wants to be able to take her place as a member of her family with more to offer than just marrying and having children. But in other places it is clear that her identity, too, goes deeper than convenience - early on, she mentions how much she loves her masculine nickname (Teo is a boy’s name), and while she never embraces her ability to change her body physically into that of a boy the way Cielo does - it is clear that her female body always remains the one that feels most her - she nonetheless does come to see that form as also hers, and to love the way it allows her to transcend the limits of female identity. These differences of experience between Cielo and Teo, as well as the acknowledgement that Teo is both living in a sexist society and desires a more fluid identity for reasons that go beyond sexism, made Capetta’s handling of a “magical transgender” story feel more believable than most.
There were other things I liked about the book. The magic system was interesting, though we clearly don’t know everything about it yet. The world, though clearly very heavily based on historical Italy, is rich and interesting. I liked most of the characters and thought they were fleshed out well. Teo is an excellent protagonist. I love how ruthless she was; for all that she was a somewhat sheltered country girl, while Cielo was the independent traveler, it was Teo who felt like the harder character and Cielo who seemed softer and more vulnerable. The way they each developed, and the influence they had on each other, really got me invested in their relationship. Sometimes when you have a POV protagonist who is going to go through a radical change in their worldview over the course of the story, the love interest can get annoying because it seems like they are just there to facilitate that change. But Cielo changed just as much due to their journey and their relationship with Teo and I liked that.
Unfortunately there were a few things that pulled down the book for me. While the prose was mostly serviceable, it got muddled and confusing at times. In particular, Capetta seemed to struggle with the most emotionally intense scenes
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia
citrus_seasalt's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated
2.75
2.75 stars. The Brilliant Death was a book that captivated me with its premise, but I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I thought it would. Firstly, I found the way the story tackled gender and identity to be a mixed bag. Gender seemed to be almost intrinsically tied to sex, and with Cielo especially, there was more of an emphasis on that than expression/presentation(which made for a few uncomfortable sentences?). It felt pretty gender norm-y, which I would’ve expected from the macho, sexist dudes of the story but not in regards to the POV of our genderqueer protagonist. (To be fair though, this book was published in 2018, and the author writes under a different name now so I presume from the deadname on the cover they didn’t have as much of an understanding of gender, perhaps their own, and that impacted Teo and Cielo’s characterization.) By the end, though, there was more of a dissection/discussion of gender and I felt it improved.
Magic/power system was basically nonexistent here, too. We got a vague idea of Teo’s limitations(which were improved upon more, oddly, when they got a sort-of-power-upgrade towards the end), and I thought their abilities were silly. I can’t really take seriously a person that points a hand or finger at a foe and poof! now they’re a music box or some other fancy-schmancy object of choice. (If it actually described how a person or entity was altered by it, bit by bit, I probably would’ve been able to take it seriously.)
I was also on-the-fence about the main romance, which was a disappointment because it was actually a factor that drew me in based on what I heard of the book. It was very inta-lust(romantic feelings weren’t developed until later), and as a result I felt Cielo and Teo’s relationship moved a little too quickly until the end. But, there were some sweet moments, I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for love interests who put themselves on the line for whoever they love, and this was no exception. (Cielo was a pretty average “sarcastic, handsome dark-haired love interest” archetype though. To those who love that kind of thing, great, you will absolutely eat this up, but I’m not one of those people. To each their own.)
I also didn’t like the plot. It felt very Typical YA, there wasn’t a single twist I was surprised by and the characters overall fell very flat.
Even with its flaws, though, it was immensely enjoyable and I lost track of my pages until I reached the end and stared at my copy stunned at my progress. So…maybe it’s too harsh to call it a bad book, but don’t call it top-notch fiction either.
Magic/power system was basically nonexistent here, too. We got a vague idea of Teo’s limitations(which were improved upon more, oddly, when they got a sort-of-power-upgrade towards the end), and I thought their abilities were silly. I can’t really take seriously a person that points a hand or finger at a foe and poof! now they’re a music box or some other fancy-schmancy object of choice. (If it actually described how a person or entity was altered by it, bit by bit, I probably would’ve been able to take it seriously.)
I was also on-the-fence about the main romance, which was a disappointment because it was actually a factor that drew me in based on what I heard of the book. It was very inta-lust(romantic feelings weren’t developed until later), and as a result I felt Cielo and Teo’s relationship moved a little too quickly until the end. But, there were some sweet moments, I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for love interests who put themselves on the line for whoever they love, and this was no exception. (Cielo was a pretty average “sarcastic, handsome dark-haired love interest” archetype though. To those who love that kind of thing, great, you will absolutely eat this up, but I’m not one of those people. To each their own.)
I also didn’t like the plot. It felt very Typical YA, there wasn’t a single twist I was surprised by and the characters overall fell very flat.
Even with its flaws, though, it was immensely enjoyable and I lost track of my pages until I reached the end and stared at my copy stunned at my progress. So…maybe it’s too harsh to call it a bad book, but don’t call it top-notch fiction either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Sexism
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated
4.0
A fun fantasy read. I don't love political intrigue, it's one of my least favorite features of fantasy books, but this book was still fun even witu the heavy focus on the ruling families drama. Loved having a gender fluid witch protagonist and a protagonist exploring her identity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: War
Poisoning, death of siblingcams_all_booked's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Transphobia, Grief, and Pregnancy
alyssa_s10's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia
malloryfitz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Pregnancy and Lesbophobia
looney_moons's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book is so incredible. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s the only thing I can think about. More than anything, it’s an incredible exploration of perception and the act of being perceived and what this means for the world’s understanding of you. As a non binary person, seeing the fluidity of gender expressed through gender was quite possibly the most affirming thing I’ve ever read in my life. Only thing is that I feel like it took a long time to get to the climax and then it was solved really quickly, but I’m honestly willing to look away from that because of how fantastic this book is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Sexism
Tackles gender dysphoria without explicitly tackling gender dysphoriaazaliz's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Genderfluid witches (or at least, witches that can change shape and gender, that's great!
The story is a lively and enthralling tapestry, with a fascinating universe, magic, love, strategy and power games.
The story is a lively and enthralling tapestry, with a fascinating universe, magic, love, strategy and power games.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
I didn't like that in such a world, it was still a problem to see a same-sex couple.